A call has been made for Derby City Council leader Ranjit Banwait to resign in the wake of the furore over fellow councillor Gulfraz Nawaz’s breach of the council’s code of conduct.

Last week, Mr Nawaz resigned from one of three committees he is on - more than four months after he was criticised in a standards probe for giving a reference to a taxi driver who had previous criminal convictions.

Councillor Matthew Holmes, leader of the council’s Conservative group, has put the blame for the delay and inaction over the issue at Mr Banwait’s door. He also believes Mr Nawaz, who accused the Tories of "capitalising on his error of judgement" should have resigned from all three committees.

But commenting on Mr Holmes' suggestion, Mr Banwait said it was a "ludicrous request", and likened it to the response by a US army general who replied "Nuts!" to a German surrender ultimatum in the Second World War's Battle of the Bulge.

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Mr Holmes said: “Councillor Banwait has chosen to say and do nothing about this issue despite knowing how serious the breach was by one of his councillors. He has shown himself to be spineless, weak and cowardly.

“It is vital that we ensure, when required to do so, firm and decisive action is taken – not the exact opposite in the case of Councillor Nawaz.

“I believe that Councillor Banwait feels he cannot act against a fellow Labour councillor for fear of his own position being under threat as group leader if he does. In those circumstances, I would urge Mr Banwait to step down. To cling on to position by having to turn a blind eye or curry favour with factions inside the Labour group is not leadership. It’s a recipe for disaster.”

The standards committee recommended to Mr Banwait that he “be removed from any or all council committees or sub-committees” and also the council’s monitoring officer was recommended “to arrange code of conduct training” for him.

Additionally, it was agreed by the committee that a letter be sent to Mr Banwait, “outlining the seriousness of this interference with taxi licensing”.

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Political pressure has been mounting over the past few weeks on Mr Banwait and Mr Nawaz after Conservative councillors called for Mr Nawaz's resignation as chairman of the personnel committee.

And Mr Holmes wrote last week to Mr Banwait asking him to take action and saying that his continued silence was “unacceptable and damages not only your integrity, but that of the Labour group and the governance of the council itself”.

Finally, Mr Nawaz, having taken advice given by the council’s legal team, agreed to stand down as a member of the planning committee and undertake the code of conduct training. But he remains as chairman of the council’s personnel committee, for which he is paid an additional allowance of £7,557, and a member of the communities scrutiny review board.

Councillor Gulfraz Nawaz has stepped down from one committee

In a previous statement, Mr Nawaz said: “These actions fully meet the recommendations based on the legal advice I have seen from the council.” He added that “political opponents, and in particular the Derby Conservative group, have opportunistically capitalised on my error of judgement”. He said: “We should not mistake these moves as being in any way motivated by anything other than crude intention to make political gain.

“I apologise unreservedly for my error in judgement, and I now hope we can move on from this matter.”

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Mr Holmes added that “upholding the governance of the council is not a political game”. He said: “If we have learnt anything from damning audit reports and the council’s many serious governance issues in recent years, it is that we cannot allow these failures to continue and we must act decisively when they come to light and learn from them.”

Tory councillor Mick Barker is set to challenge Councillor Baggy Shanker, cabinet member for finance and governance, at a meeting of full council tonight over whether the resignation of Mr Nawaz from the planning committee “satisfies the cross party recommendations of the standards committee”.